Newsom’s San Quentin overhaul replaces death chamber with services – CalMatters

from Kayla MichalovichCalMatters

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Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday unveiled one of his criminal justice reform efforts at what was formerly San Quentin State Prison, a $239 million transformation that aims to help the site better prepare inmates for release.

The 81,000-square-foot San Quentin Training Center, built in 18 months, completes first in series of redesign updates Oldest prisons in California in what Newsom described as “the most innovative rehabilitation facility in the nation.”

The three interconnected buildings consist of a technology and media center, an education center and community and workforce space. Their features include a cafeteria, recording studios, reading spaces, and indoor and outdoor classrooms with views of the San Francisco Bay.

“It’s always been about public safety,” Newsom said at a news conference. “It’s about addressing the fundamental fact that 95 percent of the people in this system will return to your neighborhood. And what kind of neighbors do you want them to be?”

The buildings also put Newsom’s stamp on the 174-year-old prison, which until recently housed the state’s death row. Newsom suspended the death penalty in 2019 and in 2022 ordered the dismantling of the building where condemned prisoners were kept. Today, 580 people are on death row in California prisons; they are now housed elsewhere in the state.

More work is underway at San Quentin, including construction of new housing, expanded recreation areas and installation of art projects.

Darrell Steinberg, former president pro tempore of the state Senate, said the San Quentin rehabilitation center “represents an even broader definition of justice.”

“When people commit a crime, accountability is appropriate,” Steinberg said. “At the same time, no human being serving a sentence should ever be forgotten or abandoned. This is not partisan or soft or ideological. What you have created here is effective public safety.”

Tinish Hollins, executive director of the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice, called the training center a smart investment.

“It’s an investment that will pay off in the future forever,” she said. “This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate — not just here in California, but to the rest of the country — how we’re improving public safety over time: by giving people access to the education, the support and the resources they deserve. And they don’t have to come to state prison to get it, but I’m glad it’s here.”

Kayla Michalovich is a contributor to California Local News.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.